All Those Years Ago

Hideki Ryuzaki had nothing to do. The Real Estate Guy... Chick... Thing was a bust. So he decided just to go and talk to the founders.

Of Nutopia. Not the universe. Just to be clear.

"Second April, 1973," Rick muttered to himself, dialing it in. He stepped out of the TARDIS and put on his Nutopian outfit of an aged, tattered, brown leather jacket and plain dungarees and gold-rimmed, circular-spectacled glasses with blue tints.

He walked up to the entrance to the Nutopian Embassy's entrance. He pressed a hidden button on a shiny, new plaque commemorating the Dakota Buildig as the Nutopian Embassy and the door opened. He climbed stairs and walked through the kitchen entrance. He found the bedroom and knocked on the door.

"What," a British man asked. Rick could hear he and a woman whispering. Finally, he said, "Come in!"

Rick opened the door slowly to find a long-haired, bearded man and a black-haired Asian woman lying in bed.

"Err," Rick said, "I can go, if you'd like."

The man shook his head, "Nonsense. Anyone who breaks in my home to meet me or still my things deserves either a song named after them or an autograph. He winced at the memories.

Rick looked about his person for blank canvas.

The man clicked his tongue, grabbed his radio/alarm clock and a marker, pulled the plug out of the outlet, and scrawled his name on top. "John Lennon," he muttered, ending with a flourish. "Anything else?"

Rick took the clock and stuffed it into his ordinary satchel. He bowed and pursed his lips. Finally, he said, "Err. Yes, sir. It's about Nutopia."

"Of sorts," Rick replied. "In the future, I want to turn the moon into a colony of Nutopia."

John chuckled, "Really, now? Marvelous!" He grinned.

"Err. Yeah. And, I need to know what to base it on."

"Alright," he said, "Yoko?"

Yoko finally spoke, "Nutopia is without government. Anyone who wants can be a citizen. There is no crime and every shares."

John added, "And the streets are paved with sheets of acid!"

Yoko stared briefly at John, before sighing and saying, "Right. Err. There's no fighting over which religion's best. It's a lot like 'Imagine'." John nodded.

Rick sighed, "Then why didn't you just say, 'like Imagine'?"

Yoko thought for a moment, and John spoke, "Err. I have no idea. We need to... Drag this conversation out... For some reason."

Rick glanced out the window to dismiss this thought. "There's people in suits outside," he mumbled.

John and Yoko sighed simultaneously. John cleared his throat and began getting dressed, "Yeah.... Those'd be the FBI agents sent to deport me."

Rick, who had no idea how the agencies of government work in America, said nothing about this. Yoko explained anyway, "See. Nixon's an asshole." Rick nodded in agreement. She continued, "He wants to deport John, so the FBI got involved after they intercepted a letter wherein he showed support for Marxists."

Ryuzaki sighed. "Well, let's go." They blinked curiously while Ryuzaki fumbled with his coat pockets. A chirping noise sounded, then the hallmark wheezing of the TARDIS as it materialized around them. Their jaws hung open for a moment.

"It's..." Yoko trailed off.

"Bigger on the inside," John finished.

Ryuzaki flipped a single switched and they materialized right back in their bedroom, "The next day. They'll have searched the whole city for you by now."

Rick left them and set acourse for his own time. He, of course, was aware of the fate that John would face in seven years. Ryuzaki sighed and knew what must be done.

He stepped out the TARDIS, "Eigth of December, 1980, 7:00am," he said with no apparent need. He spent the day watching the outside of The Dakota. A small crowd gathered, waiting for Lennon. In the crowd, a man in a dark overcoat with the collar turned up and messy, slightly curled black hair stood. Not Sherlock Holmes. A filthy American.

Rick held two black people sacks and waited nervously. Finally, around 10:00pm, Lennon got out of a limo, walked quickly to the gate of the Dakota building, and was shot by Mark David Chapman. Rick could nearly hear the dramatic music swell as he lept over the entirety of the street, knocked Chapman unconcious for about twenty seconds. That was enough time to scoop Lennon up, and replace him with an identically wounded Lennon.

He clutched the other person sack tightly, while holding the dying Lennon in the other.

He sped around the corner as the police arrived. He waited until a distraught, sobbing Yoko Ono climbed up the steps. He emptied his second people bag, leaving an unconcious, but healthy, Ono on the step while stuffing the concious Yoko into the then-empty bag.

Rick sighed as he finally reached the TARDIS. He slumped against the the console and exhaled in relief. He pulled it off. He released his hold on the bags and threw Rick Dust into one. Out crawled John from one and Yoko from the other.

John coughed and looked around, "Oh, my.... We're back in..." He noticed Rick slouched against the TARDIS. "Hold on. You saved my life."

Yoko held John and refused to let go. Rick just nodded at John, "Don't mention it."

Yoko muttered something, "Won't people notice John and I missing?"

Rick shook his head. "You're dead," he nodded to John, "And I replaced you with a Yoko from a parellel universe where you go missing months after John dies. I have certain precautionary measures to make sure you/she doesn't off your/herself."

John blinked, "Hold on," he said, "I'm not dead, though."

Rick smiled, "That was really dificult to pull off. I had to find just the right parellel. You were assassinated by Chapman, before having your body stolen as it slowly bled to death. I didn't change history; just minor details."

John looked to Yoko then back to Rick, "And Sean? Is he to grow up without a father?"

"Why would I," a voice asked. Although I see no need to try and add mystery by calling it 'a voice,' it's obviously young Sean Lennon.

"Picked him up right before your second, and last, meeting with Chappy."

"And the..." John choked up at trying to say the next words, "other Beatles?"

Rick inhaled deeply, "John Winston Yoko Lennon, I am sorry. So very sorry. But they must think you dead." He bit his lip before explaining, "Some of their best works were songs dedicated your life." He began to sing, "'And I always looked up to you.... Now we're left cold inside, by someone, the Devil's Bestfriend, someone who offended all', that's George. I won't sing Paul's. Too sad and sweet."

John looked sad for a moment, "Nothing from Ringo?"

"Bit of a rubbish songwriter...." He sighed, "Take solace in that they all came together to perform Georgie's song."

John and Yoko stared between themselves and Ryuzaki, before Yoko finally said, "Terrific."

Rick began charting acourse to Nutopia in 576AZ. They landed, but Rick rushed to stop them from walking outside. "Nope! Not ready yet! No atmosphere!" He ran back to the console, "TARDIS, you know the drill. G1:1."

Rick waited several moments, before popping his head out, "All clear," he called. There was a small forest and a lake, now. Patches of soil dotted the land. It still resembled the moon, but now with resources. He nodded to John, who was holding Sean, and to Yoko, "All yours. The first residents of Nutopia." He stepped the TARDIS, and before closing the doors, "Don't worry. More people'll show up soon."

Rick shut the door and planned his next bit of Beatles Saving. George, now.

George woke up in a haze (geddit?) and looked around, "Hold on... This is what the Sun King rides about in!" He coughed, spattering blood on the floor.

"Carefully, Georgie," a voice, Ryuzaki's, that he did not recognize, said gently.

"Who're you?" He hacked up more blood.

"I'm Hideki Ryuzaki, Yogi of Nutopia." He check the medbay's computer again, "The dust takes a bit longer to repair damage from, and kill, cancer than it does to fix bullet wounds," he muttered.

George blinked, "Hold on," he croaked, "Nutopia? That April Fools' thing John and Yoko..."

"Yeah," Ryuzaki affirmed dismissively. "I made it real. On the moon. In the future."

"You're a friend of the Sun King, then?"

"Of sorts," Rick repeated.

"And you saved my life."

"Parellel you swap. Really simple," he muttered. His eyes shot open as he realized something. He shrugged it off and it would never come again. Even though it probably will. "So, whaddya say," he asked George.

"Yes, I'm aware that everyone believes him to be dead. Now everyone believes you to be, as well. In the distance of my future, no one bats an eye at noticing that you guys are alive." He paused, "Err. Well, they'll be ecstatic. But nothing like your time, when they'd freak out and believe it means you're Satanists. Or Stanists."

"Stanists," George regretted asking.

"Err. Nothing."Rick hit several buttons that holographized in front of him and they were taken to the console room. He flipped the switches and they landed on Nutopia. About a week after he left John and Co.. He led the now-healed George out and dismissed his amazement at breathing in space. Rick was, however, amazed at the progress they made. Twenty-something men and women hippies were gathered around a campfire. Apparently, the marijuana and salvia crops grew well on the moon. A large building had been erected. Rick surmized that they had shared lodging there. He was proud. And John wept when he saw George.